Apply to the MDE Program

Essays

Letters of Recommendation

Three letters of recommendation are required. One of these references must be an academic reference; the remaining two may be academic, professional, or a combination of the two. Two of these references must be recent, from within the last 12 months. References should be written for the purpose of the applicant's application. Academic references should know you as a student and professional references should know you in a job setting, preferably in a supervisory role. Personal references from friends or family members do not meet the requirement.

References selected must align with the experience the applicant has accounted for in their application (ie. if selecting a supervisor as a reference, the job in which you worked at should be listed on your resume).

Recommendation letters must be submitted through the application portal. The applicant will be required to provide the recommender's name and email address on the application. The recommender will receive an email from the Office of Admissions directing them to complete the online reference form. They can also upload their letter through this form as a Word document or PDF file.

As part of the admission process, all references will undergo a verification process.  After submission of an enrollment deposit and before orientation, we will reach out to your recommender to verify the authenticity of their submission.

• Note: Please use your recommender's institutional or work email address. Recommenders who have a personal email address (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo) attached to their information may be subject to additional review in order to verify that they are an academic or professional reference.

Resume or CV

Applicants will be asked to provide their professional affiliations, awards/commendations, interests, hobbies, and community service involvement on the application. Applicants will also be asked to upload their resume/CV to the application portal. The resume/CV should be uploaded as a PDF in order to ensure proper formatting.

There is no page limit required for the resume/CV. In addition to academic and professional experience, applicants should include hobbies, interests, honors, awards, and travel experience. This type of information will give the review committee an opportunity to gain a more holistic understanding of the applicant.

Exams

• GRE: GRE exam scores are not required for the MDE, MDE/DNP, and MDE/PhD programs. Unofficial scores can be uploaded to the application, however, the Office of Admissions requires receipt of the official scores by the admissions deadline. Columbia Nursing's school code is 2142.
• TOEFL: Applicants who completed post-secondary education outside of the United States from a non-English institution are required to submit TOEFL scores. Unofficial scores can be uploaded to the application, however, the Office of Admissions requires receipt of the official scores by the admissions deadline. Columbia Nursing's school code is 9828.

Additional Documentation (Not Required)

• Addendum: Applicants can submit a brief statement explaining substantive extenuating circumstances that they feel could impact their application. Information related to academic circumstances that have affected an applicant's performance should be addressed in this section.
• Optional Essay: Applicants can submit a one-page essay (double spaced/12-point font) focused on non-academic topics.
• Communications: If an applicant has corresponded with our Admissions Office regarding any parts of their application or program requirements (i.e. prerequisite course review), they can upload the email communication in this section.

Additional Information Regarding Application Processing and Review

• Note that the applicant must submit all materials directly, not through an agent or third-party vendor, with the following exceptions: submission by the US Department of State's Fulbright program; submission by Danish-American Fulbright (DAF); and submission by Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD).
• The applicant will be required to attest to the accuracy and authenticity of all information and documents submitted to Columbia. If you have questions about this requirement, please contact the Office of Admissions at nursing@cumc.columbia.edu.
• Failure to submit complete, accurate, and authentic application documents consistent with these instructions may result in denial or revocation of admission, cancellation of academic credit, suspension, expulsion, or eventual revocation of degree. Applicants may be required to assist admissions staff and faculty involved in the admission reviews in verification of all documents and statements made in documents submitted by the student as part of the application review process.
• All application materials will be verified by the Office of Admissions or a third-party vendor for enrolling applicants. Detailed information regarding this process will be distributed upon publication of admission decisions.

Apply Now to the Masters Direct Entry Program